Water well
A water tank or a well
As usual, it had begun with a dilemma: a tank or a well.
Some people prefer tanks as they think that city water is better. Mind them that it is in a city. Someone, not me, has to go there every week or so and haul it. Imagine yourself taking a hot shower at the end of a day and then... oops, sorry, someone forgot to fill the tank.
Speaking of water quality, I actually prefer well water as there is no chlorine in it. It is hard but what are softerners for?
Drilling a well
No, I couldn't do it myself. I called Mar-Wayne Drilling Services Ltd. They specialized in my area and guaranteed me lots of water.
They drilled at the end of August, 2002. Here is the an extract from their drilling report:
| Depth in feet | Lithology Description |
|---|---|
| 0 - 10 | Clay |
| 32 | Sandy Clay |
| 86 | Fine Sand |
| 102 | Coarse Sand |
| 103 | Gravel |
They used 9-inch bore. The well depth was 102 feet. They dropped in 97 feet of 6 inch PVC pipe with the wall thickness 0.395. They grouted it 30 foot below the surface to protect from any possible surface contaminants. The bottom was packed with 875 lb of 0.275 washed rock. A 4 inch stainless screen with 0.12 slot size was attached to the PVC casing and extended from 97 feet down to 102.
Static water level was 4.28m. Here are the results of well performance after removing water for two hours at 28 GPM rate:
| Elapsed time in minutes | Recovery (water level in meters) |
|---|---|
| 0 | 8.83 |
| 1 | 5.49 |
| 2 | 4.45 |
| 3 | 4.41 |
| 4 | 4.39 |
| 5 | 4.38 |
| 6 | 4.37 |
| 7 | 4.36 |
| 8 | 4.35 |
| 9 | 4.35 |
| 10 | 4.34 |
| 12 | 4.34 |
| 14 | 4.34 |
| 16 | 4.33 |
| 20 | 4.33 |
| 25 | 4.33 |
| 30 | 4.32 |
| 120 | 4.32 |
Based on the above data, they recommended water pumping rate 25 GPM. Therefore, they installed the stainless 1/2 h.p. 230 volt Grundfos pump at the depth of 25 meters.
A water pipe trench
My only participation in well drilling was digging a trench from the well to the house and then backfilling it. The water pipe was only one inch in diameter and water may stand in it for extended periods of time without movement. This trench must have been well below the frost level. As you see, it is about 2.5 meter deep.